The previous post covers why I am an atheist more from autobiographical perspective. It answers the ‘why’ from Causality but not from Reason or Argument. So here we go again.

I will tackle the question of probability of God’s existence from multiple famous or not-so-famous arguments-

1. God requires you to believe in him/her or expects your allegiance – That sounds like dealing with a corrupt government official or a self-obsessed boss. Unless you acknowledge his supremacy and submit your life to his will, there shall be no respite for you. If this type of God really exists, he has a lot to answer for. If that is not the case, your belief or disbelief should not matter in the end.

2. Omniscient, Omnipotent, Loving God doesn’t correspond with the world we see around us – this is old hat argument on atheist forums. If God knows everything, can do anything why in the world do people get raped? Why do children starve in third world? Why do people suffer insurmountable agonies? If you try telling me that pain makes us stronger, humor me this. Assume you’re an omnipotent omniscient God. You know your creation needed to be stronger. Why the heck can’t you just make it strong enough in the first place! Now that would be intelligent design.

3. World doesn’t need a creator – This is the oldest argument of the other side. This world is beautiful, perfect and dazzling. How could it have come in to existence without a creator? The old argument of if there’s a watch, there has to be a mechanic to create it. This argument is so easily refuted by so many people that I am not even going to waste my breath on it. Just take my word for it. World doesn’t need a creator. 🙂

4. Creating a world doesn’t sound like an intelligent endeavor – First a hat-tip to Douglas Adams for his eternal line “In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” What could be a good reason for a God to create the universe? A universe, God knew (being omniscient) will hold suffering for lots of his creations! A universe that will be ruled by Devil or evil (as per most scriptures, current world is such)! Was it a thought experiment? Or ego-massage? Sheer BDSM (Funnily enough, faith includes Bondage, domination, sadism. Not sure about masochism much! Any views)?

5. Multiple Religions – Religions are the biggest proof that God doesn’t exist. If there was really a God, do you think he will send out so many confusing messages? Eat bacon. Don’t eat bacon, but eat beef. No, don’t eat beef. Wait, don’t eat beef, bacon, chicken, eggs, onions, garlic. I am not making light of the subject. Religions differ from each other on very fundamental points. It is very naïve to think that all religions teach the same thing.

One religion teaches you to worship statues. Another categorically forbids it.

One god, many gods and goddesses, three gods that is one.

Authority of different messages and different messengers

These are fundamental points where religions differ from each other.
So my argument is this – why different religions if there’s really a God? Why not send down just one book? Maybe in multiple languages with perfect god-like translations? Why mess up the messages so much between messiahs? Why can’t Moses, Jesus and Mohammad bring the same message? If there was a single intelligent being guiding the hand that is what would happen. Instead we have multiple religions significantly different from each other. This in essence proves that there’s no control over what content is passed off as sacred and hence there’s no God. (Unless of course you believe world is creation of gods fighting with each other. In that case, do read Game World trilogy by Sumit Basu and another obscure book called “Book of Job: A tragedy of errors”)

No, I don’t believe the world was created, is maintained or will be destroyed by a God or Gods. I believe the world is a beautiful accident of circumstances. Life has chanced upon this planet. Of the 1022 stars with an average of about 1 to 5 habitable planets (drake equation) in the universe, one of the planets (that we know of) gets to have conditions amenable to a carbon-based life form. I don’t think it’s a miracle. It’s a chance. It’s a chance in 1 out of 3 x 1022 planets.

And it’s beautiful! You have a lifetime; hope you have the time of your life!